He has followed up an injury-riddled 2015 with a record-setting 2016, and has played a key role in the College of William & Mary’s resurgence this spring.
For Manassas Park graduate Joey Gaouette, his senior season with the Tribe has provided plenty of redemption after back and shoulder ailments ended his junior campaign prematurely last spring. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound right-hander has become a rock at the back end of the Tribe’s bullpen, setting school single-season and career records for saves as William & Mary has surged to second place in the Colonial Athletic Association standings with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
“It’s been a good year for me and for the team,” Gaouette said. “We had kind of a tough year last year, but we’ve kind of bounced back from that. It’s been a lot of fun this year.”
The Tribe (22-22 overall, 11-6 CAA) enter this weekend’s home series with Towson having won five of their last six in league play, and they have already matched last season’s win total. The success has the William & Mary eyeing a run at the conference championship and the automatic NCAA Tournament berth that comes with it.
Gaouette has been a major factor in the success, entering the weekend with nine saves and a 3.32 earned run average over 21.2 innings in 17 appearances. He broke the school’s single-season saves record last weekend, and his 16 career saves have also set a new program mark.
Two years ago, as a sophomore, he earned All-CAA honors after posting a 1.84 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 53.1 innings, then was one of the top pitchers in the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore area-based Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League over the summer. But towards the end of that summer, he began having pain in his back and throwing shoulder, injuries that eventually led to a disappointing junior campaign that was shut down after logging just 14.1 innings.
“It was a pretty big disappointment, especially coming off that sophomore year where I had a lot of success,” he said. “You never like failure, especially after having a lot of success. But it’s been very satisfying coming back and kind of returning to that sophomore year form.”
Gaouette took last summer off, then returned to Williamsburg for the fall semester and ramped up his rehabilitation.
“I kind of turned it over to the coaching staff, and they said ‘let’s take the summer off from throwing’,” Gaouette said. “There’s not a ton of rest or down time during the college season to stop throwing. It’s usually the fall season, the winter you get off, then it’s spring and summer back-to-back.
“So we kind of determined I should take the summer off and when I came back to William & Mary, I worked with the training staff here on rehab and a progressive throwing program and I felt worked out very well to get me ready to pitch in the spring.”
His fastball now again consistently in the low-90s and topping out at 93 MPH, Gaouette is once again on the radar of professional scouts as the Major League Baseball Draft looms next month. He has not allowed a run in his last six outings and 11 of his last 12 appearances, and has helped anchor a Tribe staff that has also gotten big contributions from three other local pitchers, starters Nick Brown (Patriot) and Dan Powers (Madison), and Mitch Aker (Paul VI Catholic), who has been used as a starter and out of the bullpen.
Despite the attention from those scouts and the prospects of launching a professional career this summer, Gaouette says he is focused on helping the Tribe pursue a deep postseason run while enjoying his remaining days with his teammates, 13 of which hail from Northern Virginia schools.
“I think that’s always a goal of pretty much anyone who plays baseball to make it to the big leagues,” he said. “And I’m trying to do everything I can to impress the scouts and for my team to keep playing baseball. It’s definitely something on my mind.
“But I’d say it’s more about my teammates and the team right now, and whatever happens after the season happens.
Several attempts to reach William & Mary coach Brian Murphy for comment on this story went unanswered by the school’s athletics media relations department. Photo courtesy of William & Mary athletics.
